HP Can't Spend Its Way to Stock Gains

Running Hewlett-Packard Co. was Meg Whitman's fallback job, but it has its perks.

However much a governor of California might be tempted to, say, spin off Death Valley and reinvest the proceeds into Silicon Valley, that isn't possible. Chief executive officers have more freedom. Early in her tenure atop the technology giant, Ms. Whitman had the option to exit the personal-computer business, as her predecessor had planned. Reversing...